In wireless communications, the wireless link between a wireless access point and an end user (e.g., user equipment) is often the bottleneck. For example, the data rate over backhaul network connections between a network node (e.g., packet gateway) and the access point may be many times faster than the data rate over the wireless link. Some networks may attempt to compensate for this by transmitting information to a given user equipment from multiple access points using downlink coordinated multipoint (DL-CoMP) transmission techniques. Dynamic point selection (DPS) is one type of DL-CoMP technique that communicates a single traffic flow to multiple access points capable of performing transmissions to a user equipment (UE). The traffic flow is then communicated from whichever access point has the highest quality radio connection, thereby improving the data-rate experienced by the UE.
DPS transmission is often implemented between access points interconnected by high data rate backhaul connections. In such cases, the traffic flow is typically communicated from a network node (e.g., a packet gateway (PGW)) to one of the access points over the backhaul network, and then distributed from that access point to the other access points via the high-speed interconnections. In some instances, it is desirable to implement DPS transmissions between access points that do not have a high speed backhaul interconnection capable of transporting the traffic flow. For example, it may be desirable to implement DPS transmissions between access points in radio access networks (RANs) maintained by different network operators and/or in RANs utilizing different wireless protocols, e.g., between an LTE access network and a Wi-Fi access network. When DPS transmissions are implemented between access points that are not interconnected by high-speed backhaul connections, the traffic flow is typically multicast from the network node (e.g., PGW) to the set of access points participating in the DPS transmission. Multicasting traffic flows in this manner may significantly increase congestion over the backhaul network, and therefore efficient alternatives are desired.